Understanding
by VampireQueenAkasha
Summary: TFP: Shockwave's history haunts his sparkling. So they learn a little something about what it means to make your own choices despite your origins. - Takes place after Tesoro. Part of my 'Nevermore' series. -
**Understanding**

 **Author's Note** : It's been some time since I did a Shockwave X Red Alert fic. Well, this one came to me after listening to an Evanescence song and brought on some past memories of a friend I used to have when I was younger. You'll see where it comes from once you read it. I recommend reading Tesoro before this so you won't get too confused. It's a part of my "Nevermore" series.

 _"The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children."_

 _-_ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

 _"_ _The right to a quality education is, I believe, the perfect path to bridge the gap between different cultures and to reconcile various civilizations. Without such a right, the values of liberty, justice and equality will have no meaning. Ignorance is by far the biggest danger and threat to humankind._ _"_

\- Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned

 **By: VampireQueenAkasha**

~O~

It had been a long time since Shockwave had to educate younglings.

But it was different now that he had a youngling of his own to tutor. Asteria had the energy of the Predacons he had created in his lab. She would constantly get into fights with the other younglings of the planet that Jhiaxus had tended to.

What a bother at times.

But Shockwave felt a sense of pride in her regardless of these matters. She was spirited, but she had the intellect that would make for a proper scientist. He did not blame her for the distractions she came to face.

Red Alert wanted her to make friends - as her mother, that was only natural - but Shockwave knew that Asteria's social skills would hinder that. She had to understand things at her own pace. Such was how he had come to experience life and how he understood.

Asteria looked like her mother also, but she had few attributes that made her like her father. Red optics, sharp contours, violet protoform. It was unfortunate that these traits seemed to be the most noticeable.

Later that day, Asteria was sitting alone on her home's step. She had a sliver of Energon trickling down her chin from a punch to the face. Her optics were hard, but glossy, as if she had spent a great time crying.

Jhiaxus approached and took a seat next to her. He stared down at the young femme for a moment in silence. He didn't seem upset with her.

"What happened?" he asked.

Asteria simply stared ahead, her optics hardening. "They said things about father."

Jhiaxus sighed through his intakes, his features filled with disappointment. "What sort of things, Asteria?"

"Bad things." Asteria answered.

Jhiaxus thought about this; he wasn't ignorant to the lingering doubts in the Cybertronians around him. Things weren't absolutely perfect in that regard. Often times, Autobots were still rather sore by the war, particularly with Shockwave. Jhiaxus' laws were absolute, but often times, the bitterness from the parents was something expressed in their offspring.

"Asteria, if you need to, you could always come and speak with me," Jhiaxus assured her.

Asteria made a face. "No offense, Jhiaxus, but that's incredibly lame." she told him. "That's like being that lonely bot in school who consumes Energon cubules alone in the corner."

Jhiaxus gave a laugh of amusement.

While they spoke, Red Alert and Shockwave were talking together about the situation all the same. Red Alert was frustrated by this occurrence.

"...they tease her. They pick on her every cycle!" Red Alert was finishing.

Shockwave calmly regarded her. "Asteria will learn to brush aside their meaningless insults."

"She is young, Shockwave. While I respect your decisions as her father, she needs to know that she is cared for." Red Alert said. "And a part of that is encouraging her to feel a little better about herself."

"Coddling will not do that." Shockwave reminded her.

Red Alert was a little insulted by that comment. "I do not coddle." she insisted. "Asteria is my only sparkling. So yes, perhaps I fawn over her. She needs her father. You know this."

Shockwave's antenna flicked once as he regarded his bondmate. "Very well. I will speak with her."

Later that evening, Shockwave called Asteria to his laboratory for their daily tutoring. She seemed distracted and agitated, so he approached that.

"What caused the fight?" he asked.

Asteria sighed, throwing her hands in the air. She began to pace back and forth. "They said things! Stupid things about you!"

Shockwave began cleaning his hands on a cloth. "I am aware of the things they say about me, Asteria." he told her, "But you must remember that they are just words. And words mean nothing."

Asteria stared at him in disbelief. Then, her optics darkened. "Are they true?"

Shockwave was silent for a moment. Her father had always been difficult to read. His antenna flicked once before he responded calmly.

"They are." he replied.

O

"Mother."

Red Alert was reading when Asteria approached her. She read the conflict in her spark daughter's optics and frowned with concern.

"Asteria, what is it?" she asked.

"I want to ask something. About father."

Red Alert was silent for a moment before she nodded. "Alright. Sit here."

She patted the chair she had been sitting in and Asteria took a seat beside her.

"I heard you'd been in another fight," Red Alert told her, raising an optic ridge.

Asteria nodded. "You and father were fighting too."

Red Alert reacted with a surprised sound. "Asteria, that wasn't a fight. Your father and I...we sometimes have opposing views even though we're bonded. But that's how pairs are. There will be argument."

"After he told me about the things he did," Asteria continued. "I still don't understand how you two were even able to form a bond."

Red Alert smiled. "Well, that was a journey in and of itself, my dear." she said. "Your father and I had some interesting experiences together, and we fought our factions. But together, we felt love for one another in a way...not even I believed possible."

She smiled and tenderly patted Asteria's shoulder. "And together, we made you. And that is something your father will always take pride in. He just doesn't show it. That's his way."

"I didn't think father could love anything."

"Why do you say that?"

Asteria shrugged her shoulders with a murmur. "He never says it."

"Shockwave won't. His spark expresses it in ways he himself can't." Red Alert explained, "He will always show his love for you. But he simply does it in another way."

Asteria considered her words.

"Tonight, I want you two to work together in his lab," Red Alert said.

Asteria sighed. "Mother..."

She hated doing anything in the laboratory. Not because she didn't love her father, but it was just boring.

But Red Alert gave her a look that had the young femme sighing through her intakes.

"Okay."

Red Alert smiled and kissed the crest of her daughter's helm. "Good."

That evening, Shockwave was working in his lab and Asteria entered. He glanced up briefly from a set of trays that contained specimens he had been studying.

"Asteria." he said. "I have no lessons for you."

Asteria smiled a little, but was embarrassed. "No, sir. Mother asked that I come and...talk."

Shockwave nodded. "Very well. You may assist in moving the specimens to the cooling chamber."

Asteria did as he asked and began transferring the specimens to the cooling chamber nearby. Shockwave walked around the table and started to work on another project; it looked like a metal flower. Asteria was finishing up with the specimens and noticed what he worked on.

"Father?" she said.

"Yes?" Shockwave didn't look up.

"What are you making?"

Shockwave looked up at her briefly. "I have found that your spark mother prefers these gifts on the eve of our Spark Bonding."

Asteria looked surprised. "I didn't know you made those."

"It is not something I publicly declare."

"Why?"

Shockwave paused in his work. He set his tools down. "That is not the question you want to ask me."

"No. I suppose it isn't."

"Ask what you wish to ask of me." Shockwave said, evenly.

Asteria took a breath through her intakes. "You and mother..." she began. "I feel as though the whispers are my fault. The way they look at you."

Shockwave stared at her. His antenna flicked once. "That is not a logical assumption as the whispers occurred long before your birth."

"Really?"

"That's right. I understood the things they say of me." Shockwave replied. "I simply find it disappointing that you accepted such gossip without speaking with me first."

His vocal tones never changed, but Shockwave always had a way with his words in which he could convey emotions. Somehow despite being deprived of them.

According to her mother, that wasn't entirely true. Somehow being with her, his emotions would scratch the surface, if not a little.

"I'm sorry." Asteria said, quietly. "I just feel so angry when I hear them talking like that."

"And it drives you to lash out and not act on any clarity of thought."

Asteria made a face. "Yeah."

"I understand." Shockwave said. "Your actions are driven by your Autobot engineering. Do not give me that look. I am speaking on a medical basis. You are still a product of pride to me, as you always will be. Autobots and Decepticons are always at war with themselves, even in times of peace. It's something we have always come to experience down to our core processors. You will experience struggle as is natural for you."

Asteria looked at him hopelessly. "Then if that's true, what good am I?"

She hung her head and Shockwave stood in silence before he gestured for her to approach. Asteria did so and Shockwave picked up the metal flower.

"I believe it was your mother who taught me well that how we are engineered is of no importance." Shockwave told her. "It is purely the decisions we make that matter most. And I chose her."

Asteria smiled a little.

"Now then, you say you are being approached by three young bots and a femme?" Shockwave asked.

Asteria nodded.

"Perhaps it is time I educate you properly on how to protect yourself so they never fight you again." Shockwave said. "In a way my mentor taught me."

Asteria smiled broadly.

The following morning, the young femme wandered into the market and she was indeed approached by the group of young Cybertronian offspring.

"So...did your father put any innocent bot on the table today?" the femme sneered.

Asteria looked at each face before smirking and punching her fist.

Jhiaxus and Shockwave watched as she began to beat each and every one of them up. Jhiaxus raised his optic ridges and winced before chuckling.

"I never taught you that." he said.

Shockwave watched the sight. "It was a move my spark mate educated me on."

Jhiaxus grinned. "I see."

"Now perhaps they will cease their pointless arguments."

"Indeed."

Shockwave did not express it, but his young spark child was indeed something he was proud of.

Even if she was standing among the beaten bullies with a show of her arms.

She spent far too much time around Hot Shot too.


End file.
